Professor Malcolm Evans presents anti-torture report to United Nations

Professor Malcolm Evans at the UN press conference

20 October 2011

Malcolm Evans, Professor of Public International Law at Bristol, has appeared before the UN General Assembly in his capacity as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, to present the Subcommittee’s report.

Malcolm Evans, Professor of Public International Law at Bristol, has appeared before the United Nations General Assembly in his capacity as Chair of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, to present the Subcommittee’s report.

The Subcommittee, which works in parallel with the Committee Against Torture, has now reached full strength as a result of the increasing number of ratifications of the Optional Protocol, which have reached 60 states. It is now set to step up its activities, including unannounced visits to places of detention.

Referring to the 13 field visits carried out so far by the Subcommittee, Professor Evans highlighted pressing and recurrent problems including overcrowding, misuse of pre-trial detention, gaps between legal safeguards and practice and states’ acceptance of deplorable conditions of detention.

‘To address these systemic problems, it is vital for state parties to establish national preventive mechanisms that strictly comply with the standards of the Optional Protocol,’ he said.

You can watch a webcast of the press conference that followed Professor Evans’ presentation to the General Assembly.

More information on Professor Evans’ appointment is available in a March 20011 press release.